by Marie Cole
Instantly I wanted to hate her. She was everything I wasn't. She rushed over to Kent and put her pretty fingers on Kent's bicep as her eyes scanned his thin body.
"Oh my God, are you alright?" Her voice was sweet and had a Southern twang. I hated her even more but tried to stamp down those feelings as I watched the scene unfolding before me. Kent's cheeks were pink, flushed from his near death experience or the girl contact, I wasn't sure.
He stammered slightly. His voice had stopped squeaking a couple of summers ago and it was now a deep baritone and it made me nearly melt almost every time he spoke. "Y-yeah, I-I'm fine."
She nodded and her golden blonde locks bounced. "Okay, good. I'm so sorry about that. I was too busy looking for a parking spot. This is not the right way to start off at a new school."
She turned her sapphire eyes on me and gave me a seemingly genuine smile. I felt my lips returning it even though I still felt that hot burn of jealousy deep in my gut. She needed to get her claws off of my ... Kent.
"I'm Jen Derby. I just moved here from Georgia with my parents."
Obviously, why else would she be here trying to work her girly charms on Kent? It left me wondering though if she'd moved here because she had face alterations. Maybe a nose job. It was probably wishful thinking on my part.
"I'm Elly and this is Kent. Are you a Senior too?" I bit the inside of my cheek as I kept my eyes on her pretty face.
"Yeah," she smiled sweetly, her voice pumped with natural glee.
"Cool, well, maybe we'll have a class together. You should go or you're going to be late to homeroom. I think there are some spots still open at the end of this row. If not you'll have to park in the grass." I looked her over once more, searching for any imperfection I could. There were none.
She waved and rushed back to her brand-new candy apple red convertible.
I scoffed when she was out of earshot and snuck a glance at Kent, now that the imminent threat was gone.
His hands were shaking slightly, no doubt from his near brush with death, and his cheeks were still pink. His eyes were trained on Jen, watching her car as it pulled away. I nudged him with my elbow to break his weird trance thing and he brusquely responded as he looked towards the door, "We better go or we'll be late."
I took in the scene of bustling bodies in front of us. "Yeahhh," I said in my best flat I-don't-wanna-be-here tone. We'd gotten our schedules a couple of weeks ago and were pleased to discover that we had the same homeroom this year.
As we got closer to the classroom I spotted Frank, who made it his mission in life to torture Kent, and Meghan, an old friend of mine who decided to unfriend me once it was uncool to hang out with people who weren't popular.
They were locking lips against the lockers. I laughed as he groped her breast openly. "They deserve each other," I made sure I spoke low so that only Kent would be privy to our conversation. I didn't need to stir up any more trouble for either of us. It wouldn't be good to start the new school year off by getting Kent a shiner.
Seeing Frank and Meghan, I wondered if that would ever be me and Kent. Would he ever see me as a girl, an irresistible girl? "When am I going to see you sucking face in the hallway?" I playfully asked the question, definitely not expecting a response.
Kent's dark eyes moved over Frank and Meghan. A smirk moved over his lips as his eyes shifted away from them. His steps quickened just a little to move by them a little faster, not wanting to give Frank time to notice him, should he feel the need to unleash his inner bully.
"What?" he said softly as he turned his head just a little to view me. "There are some things that should just be done...away from prying eyes."
Nervously, he chewed on his bottom lip as he answered my question, though, not really. Did he mean that he already had a girl he'd been kissing? Was I the prying eyes? Or was his mother? Or were we both?
My mind was reeling but I decided to try to lighten the mood, "Yes, they definitely should. I've tried for the past few weeks to get that image out of my head." I was, of course, referring to walking in on him while he was...practicing.
"C'mon Elly, if the door is shut you're supposed to knock!" A group of people we passed laughed, overhearing Kent. Kent's cheeks turned that familiar bright red. With a shake of his head he shoved his hands in his pockets and kept walking until we arrived at our homeroom class.
I grinned a little. He was so adorable when he blushed. It took all I had in me not to grab him and pull him against the lockers and do what Frank and Meghan were busy doing behind us and forget school, and our moms, and that new girl, Jen. Especially her.
I cleared my throat and my dirty mind. "I learned my lesson. I will never go into your room ever again without knocking." I took a seat near the back of the class and waited for Kent to pick his spot.
He sat down beside me and placed his bag beside the desk and pulled out his crisp notebook. The classroom was alive with fellow Seniors discussing their summer vacations, who they were dating, and the swankiest first day of school outfit they'd seen thus far. I was proud that I wasn't the topic of any of the conversation I'd overheard. Last year some girls had been talking about my new found goth style. It had stung but I'd gotten over it. I'd had the only friend I'd really needed. And I still did.
I smiled at Kent before I turned around and flipped my notebook open and dated the top corner of the page. I glanced at Kent again who'd taken a breath to speak but hadn't spoken yet. He was staring at something at the front of the class. I followed his gaze and felt my heart stutter as my best friend and high school crush ogled the new girl, probably undressing her with his eyes.
I looked down before Jen caught me looking too and started to doodle on my paper, avoiding the situation would surely make it go away, right?
Wrong. Jen had more than just Kent's attention. A good number of the guys had turned to the front of the room to look, some were urged by others.
I glanced up briefly just in time to see a perfectly manicured hand rise and push some golden locks behind her diamond studded ear as her round, mascara-enhanced eyes glanced around the classroom. You could feel the buzz in the air as everyone waited, especially the male population, to see where Jen was going to claim her territory.
I thought I heard, "Don't sit with us," from Kent under his breath but it was probably just my overactive imagination combined with wishful thinking.
With her eyes set on a spot she moved down our aisle and took the desk behind Kent.
I could see his cheeks were highlighted with the same blush as earlier and a bit of it had even moved into his ears. I turned my attention to my burning school building doodle and held my breath. I didn't want her to feel like she had to talk to me or Kent, eye contact had a habit of making people want to say something to you even if they didn't necessarily want to.
The looks that crossed more than one popular face were rather priceless as the hot new girl took her seat behind the biggest nerd in school.
"I'm really sorry about earlier guys. I hope you don't mind if I sit here," it wasn't so much a question as a statement. Her hand rose and brushed over Kent's shoulder and I noticed Kent shift in his seat slightly, probably getting aroused just by her little touch. The thought had my cheeks burning in anger.
"N-n-no...it's okay," Kent's reply was followed by his hand raising to push the thick rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose. "About the almost killing me this morning, I mean. Uh...and it's a free country so you can sit where you want."
Just after those words were finished a ball of paper bounced off Kent's head and landed on his desk, causing a flood of laughter around us.
I had smiled at Jen, being polite, but it quickly turned to a frown when the paper hit the desk. I looked around and glared at anyone who looked suspicious. "Grow up!"
One of the poppies, that's my nickname for the popular kids, snapped back at me, "You mean grow out? We don't want to end up looking like you, Elly-phant."
The teacher interrupted any further name calling by
clapping his hands loudly. "That's enough, class. We have a lot to do this morning and if we don't finish it all it'll be extra homework for tonight so let's get started."
My cheeks were red from the fat remark. I tugged at the bottom of my shirt to make sure my fat rolls weren't showing too much and kept my eyes trained on the teacher, avoiding looking at either Kent or Jen.
The class flew by and I jumped as the bell rang, signaling the end of first period. Everyone around me jumped into motion too, packing things up and preparing to move on to their next class. Kent put his notebook in his book bag and stood, waiting for me like he always did.
"Don't pay attention to the morons, Elly. Don't let them ruin your day."
Kent always tried to lighten the mood after harsh words from our peers but most of the time I wish he'd just let it go and not bring it up again, reopening the wounds. I didn't need him telling me that they were morons or immature, I already knew these things.
It hurt the most that he had been here to witness them. If he hadn't ever heard them then maybe he could believe they weren't true. Maybe I could believe he didn't see the faults that everyone else so easily did.
Jen spoke up, and let her voice be heard before I got a chance to respond, "Does that happen all the time? Really?" I saw the slight surprise in Kent's shoulders at the sound of Jen's voice.
I glanced from Kent to Jen. "Yep. All the time. We're used to it. You probably shouldn't hang around us, though, we wouldn't want your name getting tarnished by association. And we would understand, it happens all the time." I shrugged as I packed up my stuff and slung my book bag on my shoulder.
Jen stood up with us. "I don't really care. It's not like this in most of the private schools I've been to. Everybody generally gets along. It was my choice to actually come to public school."
Kent frowned as he moved in beside me, we walked together through the hall and soon Jen showed up on his other side. "You'll come to find that we're not exactly the popular kind of people round here. Pretty people tend to hang out with pretty people." The words left Kent's mouth and he blinked, glancing between both Jen and myself. "Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't--"
Before he could finish that sentence Jen cut in. "No, it's okay. I like you guys," she said softly as her hand once again found its way to Kent's arm.
"My class is that way. I'll catch you later." I pointed in the opposite direction and broke away from both of them and disappeared into the crowd. Kent's words had stung and I had to get away before either of them saw how much.
Chapter Seven
ELLY
I caught up with Kent and Jen at lunch. The two of them were walking together towards the lunch room, her slender fingers resting on his arm as she talked to him and he attentively listened.
I had already heard a few comments during third period about the new girl and how she was hanging out with Kent. They were perplexed about why she was hanging out with him. They gossiped, wondering if he had a big penis, if his parents had come into lots of money. They wondered if they were cousins. Most people didn't understand. In truth, it was kind of odd, and left me wondering what Jen was up to and why she was hanging out with us.
She could move into any social circle and yet she was trying to move into mine. I didn't trust her and not because she was pretty, although that wasn't helping. No, there was something about her that rubbed me wrong.
I stayed behind them a few feet so I could eavesdrop without being noticed. Jen was telling Kent about the large house they'd moved into.
It was the one that Kent and I had fantasized about buying together. We said we would turn it into an awesome hang out pad stocked with every video game known to man. We'd also make sure we had a butler, a maid and a pantry stockpiled with Twizzlers and Mountain Dew. It was always assumed it was big inside because we'd only ever seen the outside. According to Jen our assumptions were correct, it was huge and already filled with a butler, a maid and a cook.
"So, Kenny, how long have you and Elly been friends?" The words came from Jen nonchalantly and her nickname for him grated on me.
I knew a fisher when I heard one and she was fishing for something.
"For a long time. We've always been together. For as long as I can remember she has been around." A little smile crossed Kent's lips as he looked at Jen. He was so clueless. And I was so screwed.
"Well, I'm jealous. My parents move so often that it's tough for me to keep friends. Especially long term friends." Jen, likewise, returned the smile to him. I only saw affection in that smile shared between them and decided to stay behind, to eavesdrop a little longer.
I could hear some people whispering, pointing as I walked behind Kent and Jen. I was starting to feel a little self conscious, alone, but I wanted to hear where Jen was heading with this conversation.
"I appreciate you showing me around today. It's awesome that we have so many classes together!"
Kent shrugged his shoulders at Jen's excitement. She was stoked and I knew why. She wanted my best friend in a non-platonic way. And she probably had the balls to get him.
"I don't mind. I remember when I first got here. Elly and I were lost a good bit and it took us a good month to find everything."
Jen did her annoying head nod, "So, did you want to actually see the inside of the house?"
That same blush touched Kent's cheeks as he shrugged his left shoulder. "I've got to check with Elly and see if she's free, but I think it would be fun."
For just a second I caught the start of a frown on Jen's lips but soon it passed off to a large smile with those perfectly white, straight teeth. I wouldn't give her the chance to take up anymore of his time today. I smiled to myself as I stepped forward to break up their cozy convo, tapping Kent on his left shoulder.
"Hey, you two. What's up?" I pushed aside the jealousy I had been feeling momentarily and smiled softly.
"Elly!" Kent exclaimed with a smile. "Jen and her family moved into the large house on Clairemont! She's invited us over to see the inside!" Kent seemed really excited about the whole ordeal.
I glanced at Jen to confirm the invitation. "Oh?"
Jen returned the smile and shrugged, nodding, "It's the least I can do."
I looked back to Kent and smiled, his enthusiasm rubbing off on me. "Then we should definitely go."
"Sweet. I can't wait!" Kent was all smiles now as we walked towards the lunch line, which had grown rather large. "How was your second period, Elly? Mrs. Blair is just as boring and old as always. I almost fell asleep twice but Jen woke me up so I didn't get in trouble." Kent chuckled as Jen laughed.
Great, they already had inside jokes and shared experiences. I felt my gut twist tightly. I felt the impending doom closing in on me. This was the beginning of the end, wasn't it?
I shrugged. "It was gym. You know how much I love gym." I looked at Jen to see if she was holding back a teasing remark but if she was, it didn't show.
"Hey, about later, I can give you guys a ride in the convertible. It's so nice outside."
Kent looked at me for approval and gave a shrug of his shoulders. "It's up to Elly." He smiled. I melted. I'd do anything for him.
"Well, maybe you should drive over separately and me and Jen can ride together so we can get as chummy as you two have gotten. That way we won't have to bother her for a ride home and you won't have to leave your car here for someone to prank." I glanced at Jen, "Would that be okay?"
If Jen had other thoughts they were well hidden, her expression neutral. "Sure, Elly. Makes the most sense." Jen gave a nod of her head, her hair falling freely around her face. I wanted to stick a bobby pin in it.
"Sounds like a plan. We can just head over after school and then maybe you and I can snag a bite to eat after, Elly."
I smiled back, happy that Kent hadn't invited Jen to crash our dinner. "Can't wait."
The rest of the day went by quickly and after the last period bell rang I made my way to the parking lot. I stopped at Jen's car and looked around, waiting for her to
appear. Crowds of kids were walking out of the school. Kent and Jen were walking together, they seemed rather chummy, he said something that made her laugh and she bumped her shoulder into his playfully.
I watched in horror as Frank crossed in front of them and shoulder bumped Kent hard, knocking the glasses from his face.
Frank was laughing hysterically as Kent and Jen stopped midstep. Kent started to bend over to pick up his glasses but Jen got to them first.
I clenched my jaw as I watched Jen clean the lens with her shirt. And if that wasn't bad enough she opened them and put them back on Kent's face, pausing a moment too long to look him over.
Kent ran to his car, probably to hide his stupid teenage boy excitement at being touched by Jen. He looked over at me standing by Jen's car patiently and yelled, "Meet you over there!"
His hand rose in the air as he waved to me and got into his car. I heard the squeak of his car door shutting across the parking lot.
Jen watched him pull out of the lot as she approached her car, then her eyes fell on me. "Why doesn't he do anything about that guy? Or anything about the other people who pick on him?"
I moved around to the passenger's side of the car, both hands tight on my book bag strap. "He's not a confrontational person." I smiled softly, I couldn't help but do that when I thought of him.
Jen studied me for a long moment as if she'd noticed something but instead of speaking about it she just opened her door and unlocked the car so I could get in. After she started the car the top slowly moved down. "So you and Kent haven't...?"
I got in, hoping she didn't notice her car dip under my weight, and put my book bag between my feet. I secretly said a prayer as I pulled the seat belt across my body. When it dawned on me what Jen was saying I blushed.
